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July is traditionally the month of peak demand for outdoor water use. Warm temperatures and little rainfall make it difficult to keep plants from entering drought stress. The Irrigation
Association has designated July “Smart Irrigation Month” to help promote water conservation.

What Is Smart Irrigation Month?

Smart Irrigation Month focuses on practices and innovative technologies to make maintaining green spaces simple and sustainable. By doing so, you can help your properties save money on utility bills while helping to protect community water supplies for today and the future. During Smart Irrigation Month, and throughout the year, you can take practical steps toward saving water and money.

According to the EPA nationwide, landscape irrigation accounts for nearly one-third of residential water use, totaling nearly 9 billion gallons per day. In addition, experts estimate that as much as 50 percent of water used for irrigation is wasted because of inefficient watering methods systems.

What Can Be Done To Help During Smart Irrigation Month?

Record-setting drought spanning the globe combined with an increase in average temperatures probably has you wondering what you can do to help reduce water consumption during these unprecedented events. In addition to checking for leaks and making improvements to your irrigation system, agronomic practices and soil applied products can be used to help plants thrive with less water. Ecologel has several products to aid in your conservation efforts. These products are Bio MP, EnviroPlex, Hydretain, and CytoGro.

Soil Moisture Management:

Hydretain is our flagship product, and it can help reduce your watering regimen by up to 50 percent. It does so by:

• Attracting water vapor from within the soil
• Condensing that vapor into liquid water droplets
• Anchoring those droplets in the root zone for plants to absorb

Rooting:

CytoGro is a rooting hormone biostimulant derived from seaweed extracts. It stimulates root development for more dense root systems. In addition to encouraging rooting, CytoGro speeds recovery and grow-in, and maximizes nutrient uptake.

Soil Enhancement:

Amending soil and feeding beneficial microbes is another great way to maximize water efficiency. Our carbon-based soil enhancement products, Bio MP (5-3-2) and EnviroPlex are excellent solutions for improving soil quality:

Bio MP (5-3-2) combines an immediately available food source for soil microbes with NPK and micronutrients to provide benefits to both soils and plants.

EnviroPlex provides 22% humic acid to help improve the availability and uptake of plant nutrients. The carbon in EnviroPlex also provides a longer-term food source to support soil microbial activity.

Combination Solutions:

While all of these products work separately, we also offer combination technologies to utilize maximum our water conservation and soil enhancement technologies as an all-in-one solution.

FourPlay combines Hydretain, SeaXtra seaweed extract, non-ionic surfactant, and potassium humate to address persistent localized dry spots and help recover lawns already experiencing drought stress.

Multi-Purpose Plus (4-0-2) is designed for use as part of your regular maintenance program to promote healthy roots, enhance color, and improve soil-water performance. Use it to spoon feed greens and trees for preventative maintenance.

Smart Irrigation Month is your opportunity to put water conservation efforts into effect. However, once July is over, carrying them into the future and turning them into a permanent routine will provide lasting benefits. To learn more about Smart Irrigation Month, visit their website at www.smartirrigation.org.